Improvement in permutation-locks



v E. STDCKWELL.

Permutation Locks.

Patented September 2,1873.

PATE T O.

EMORY STOOKWELL, OF STAMFORD, oonnnor onr.

IMPROVEMENT IN PERMUTATlON-LOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 142,529, datedSeptember 2, 1873; application filed November 18, .1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, EMORY SrooKwELL, of Stamford, in the county ofFairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and ImprovedPermutation-Lock; and that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings and to the letters of referenoemarked thereon, making a part ofthis specification.

This invention is in the nature of an im. provedpermutation-look; andthe invention relates, principally, to the manner of adjusting thetumblers when arranging or changing the combinations. This is efieotedby means of. an arbor carrying the permutation-wheels, and adjustable bymeans of the spindle, in the manner hereinafter described.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan viewof my lock with the back plate removed, showing bolt,'tumbler, andfence-lever; Fig. 2, a section of same taken in the line a; m; Fig. 3, aplan View of lock-case with tumblers removed, showing spring-latch; Fig.4, a plan view of the under side of the bolt, showing stop-groove,fencelever, and fence; Fig. 5, a plan view of dial and disk; Fig. 6, aplan View of inner wheel of thirdtumbler; Fig. 7, cross-section of same;Fig. 8, plan view of inner wheel of second tumbler; Fig. 9,cross-section of same; Fig. 10, plan view. of inner wheel of firsttumbler; Fig. 1.1, cross-section of same; Fig. 12, plan View of outerwheel of tumblers; Fig. 13, plan view of furring for outer wheels oftumblers; Fig-14, plan view of furring for inner wheels of tumblers; andFig. 15, side view of tumbler-arbor.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the several figures.

A represents a 1ook-case of any desired size and material. Cast withinthis case is a curb, a, and on the outer face of said lock-case is casta stump or projection, B, with screwthreads out .on the same. Throughthe center of the stump B and case A is drilled a hole. Entering intothis hole and fitting therein is an arbor,,O,the outer end of whichprojects slightly beyond the, outer end of the stump B, and the innerend projects within the curb a. This arborO is held in position by ashoulder,

61, formed thereon, and by a pin, g, which enters into a groove out intothe side thereof, and finally by a spring-latch, J, secured to the outerface of the lock-case. This spring-latch enters a slight distance withinthe stump B, holding the arbor O firmly in position by entering into anotoh'formed in the side of said arbor for that purpose. The arbor beingin position, as just described, the inner wheel h of the first tumbler,whiohis annular, and has a series of teeth formed around its periphery,is placed within the curb a, so that the arbor G will pass through thecenter of the same.

Onto this inner wheel is now placed an annular furring, e. An outerring, f, fitting within the curb a, is next placed within the same.

This outer wheel has formed within its annular space four or more teeth,g, which mesh into the teeth around the periphery of the in ner wheel h,so that when the inner and outer wheels are in position they areconcentric, and on the same plane. In the periphery of the outer ring fis formed a notch or gating, i, andthrough the ring is formed a hole,9'. The

outer and inner rings, as just described, when in position, form onetumbler. The first tumbler being in place, an annular furring, k, is nowplaced within the curb a, resting upon the outer ring of the firsttumbler. This furring is held in position by a small tooth, w, whichenters into a groove in the side of the curb a, and then a secondtumbler, composed of an outer and inner ring of precisely the sameconstruction as the tumbler just described, is placed in position in thesame manner, and above the first-mentioned tumbler, with furrings e andit between them; and in this way tumblers may be added, one above theother, until the number of tumblers it is designed the lock shall haveare all in position, the series of tumblers thus placed form-- ing whatis known as a stack of tumblers. Onto the stump B is then screwed acylinder or sleeve, D, the upper end of this sleeve haw ing cast upon ita disk, Z, with a countersunk face. The cylinder or sleeve D, afterbeing screwed upon the stump B the required distance, (which will dependupon the thickness of the safe or other door to which the lock isaffixed,) is held firmly in this position by a key or spline, m, whichenters into a groove formed in the side of the stump and the innersurface of the sleeve for that purpose. Passing through this cylinder orsleeve D, and through the stump B and arbor O, is the spindle E, whichhas affixed to its outer end the knob by which it is turned, and thedial 8, having numbers on its face, by which the combination is set. Onthe shank of the spindle E is also formed a collar, n, which, when thespindle is in place, rests upon the outer end of the arbor G. Thespindle, projecting through the sleeve D andstump B, as beforementioned, passes into and through the arbor 0 (wherein it snugly fits)into the lock, the collar n on the spindle resting on the outer end ofthe arbor O, and the inner end of the spindle being firmly secured tothe last tumbler of the stack by a screw, 0, which enters into the endof the spindle, thus holding it firmly in position. The tumblers andspindle being now properly placed within the lockcase, the bolt 13,which is annular in form, but which has a portion of its periphery cutaway, as shown in Fig. 4, and which has attached to it a fence-lever, G,as shown in Fig. 1, is next placed within the lock-case A in such manneras will admit of its surrounding and turning freely on the curb a, bythe turning of the spindle E, whenever the fence p, which is secured tothe hooked end of the fence-lever Gr, enters into the notches or gatingsi of the outer rings of the tumblers, before described. The interiormechanism of the lock being now in place, it is protected by a backplate, H, which is screwed thereon.

My lock being constructed substantially as above described, itsoperation is as follows: The spindle E being turned, it revolves throughthe arbor O, and causes the last tumbler to revolve with it. Thistumbler in its revolution brings a driving-pin, r, in contact with astop, t, on the tumbler next above, and so on until all the tumblersrevolve as the spindle is turned, the inner wheels in their revolutioncarrying the outer wheels of the tumblers with them, since the teeth ofthe periphery of the one are meshed with the teeth 9 of the other. Inthis way the outer wheels of the tumblers are turned until the notchesor gatings t, formed in each of them, are brought in line, which willenable the fence 1) to enter into the gatin gs i, as the gatings arebrought to it by the revolutions of the tumblers. When the fence hasentered these gatin gs, and the spindle E is turned to the right, thecurved part of the bolt F, by the action of the fence-lever G, is thrownin the case A of the lock, and in this position the door to which thelock is attached is unlocked; and when the spindle is turned to theleft, the curved part of the bolt is thrown out of the case, and thecut-off part of the bolt is brought within the case, and when in thisposition, which is the locked posltion, it prevents the opening of thedoor.- The door being locked in the manner above mentioned, and thespindle again turned to the left, the fence 2) is thrown out of thegatin gs i and the tumblers revolved, which brings the gatings out ofline, so that the lock cannot be again unlocked until the gatings areagain coincident by being moved up to the combination on which the lockis set.

The revolving of the tumblers to a given combination, so that the lockmay be operated as just described, being common in manypermutation-locks, it is not described here as being particularly novel,but only mentioned 111 connection with the other mechanism of my lock.

To arrange or change the combination on which the tumblers are set, andherein lies one of the principal features of my invention, the belt ofthe lock is thrown out, and a steel wire, I, with a pointed end, isinserted through a hole in the back plate of the lock, and through theholes j in the outer rings of the tumblers, and through the face-plateof the lock, until it comes in contact with the upper surface of thespring-latch J, which it forces back and outof the notchV in the arborO. The arbor 0 being now free to move sli ghtlyinward, the spindle ispushed inward, the collar n on the spindle forcing the arbor G into thelook a distance just sufficient to force the inner wheels of thetumblers clear and out of the teeth 9 in the outer rings, which remainin position. The inner wheels of the tumblers, being thus disengaged,may be revolved freely in any direction by means of the spindle, and setto any combination desired, in the same manner as in otherpermutation-locks. When the desired combination is attained the wire Iis withdrawn and the spindle pulled outward until the sprin glatch Jagain enters into the notch V of the arbor 0, when the tumblers areagain locked in the desired position and to the desired combination. Itwill thus be seen that the combination is easily and quickly adjustedand securely locked, without danger of the same bein g disarranged byaccident. When the lock is attached to a safe or other door an openingis made sufficiently large to admitthe cylinder or sleeve D, which isthen screwed onto the stump B until the disk 1 is brought in contactwith the face of the door. The sleeve is then held to the stump by thekey m,in the manner before mentioned. By this means, as will be seen,the disk l, within which the dials turns, can be readily adjusted andsecured to a door of any thickness without trouble, and, what is stillmore important, the disk 1 must at all times be exactly parallel withthe face of the door and dial, for the reason that the screw-thread onthe stump B, on which the sleeve D of the dial-rin g screws, is of thesame size, or number of threads to the inch, as the threads on the endof the spindle on which the dial is screwed, so that in adjusting thedial on the spindle it will require the same number of revolutions tobring the dial-face flush with the dial-ring, as was necessary to adjustthe dial-rin g to the thickness of the safe-door. It will thus be seenthat the threads on the stump and spindle bear a proportionate relationto each other as to number. In this way all danger of the dials bindingwithin the dial-ring is obviated,

and this has heretofore been one of the chief difficulties encounteredwhen affixing diallocks to safe-doors, so that all danger of the dial .9binding within the disk is obviated.

Heretofore the dial-disks have generally been attached to safe-doors bydrilling holes into the safe-door and affixing the disks by means ofscrews. This adjustment is accomplished by having the key-seats in thestump B and the sleeve D, to which the dial-ring is attached, so thatwhenever they are coincident or ready for the key at to hold themtogether the zero-mark on the dial-ring will be exactly in line with thegatings of thetumblers when said gatings are brought together by thecombination on which the lock isset. This advantage must be apparent,for, if the zero-mark on the dial-ring should be to the right or left ofthe gatings in the tumblers when they are broughttogether, the fence ordog would not enter into said gatings when operating the lock.

. The advantage to be derived from this method of attaching the diskdirectly to the lock, instead of to the safe, is that, no matter howmuch the lock or safe may be jarred when moving the same, the relative.position of the disk and dial cannot be disturbed, the adjustmentremaining in all cases as originally made, and all possibility ofjamming the dial into the disk avoided.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Batent, is

1. In a permutation-lock, an arbor carrying the permutation-wheels, andadjustable by means of the spindle in changing the combination,substantially as described. A

2. The combination of the adjustable arbor, carrying the permutationwheels, a springlatch for retaining it in position, and means forreleasing said catch, substantially as described.

3. The combination of theinner permutationwheels, outer rings, and innerand outer furrings with an adjustable arbor carrying the inner wheels,and with a spring-latch and means for holding said latch and the outerrings and furrings 1n position while changing the combination,substantially as set forth.

, 4. The combination of the revolving bolt, carrying the fence-lever,with the arbor, adj ustable by means of the spindle, and with thepermutation-wheels, all arranged and operating substantially asdescribed.

5. The combination of the spindle, arbor, spring latch,permutation-wheels, revolving bolt, and fence-lever, and a case providedwith an interior curb and an external stump or boss adapted for theattachment and adjustment of the dial-disk and sleeve, the arbor beingadj ustable by means of the spindle, and all the parts arranged andoperating substantially as specified.

6. In a permutation-lock, the stump on which the sleeve of the dial-ringscrews and the threaded spindle on which the dial is screwed, having aproportionate number of threads to the inch thereon and provided withkey-seats, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. In a permutation-lock, the zero-mark on the dial-ring, adjusted tocoincide with the gat ings of the look-tumblers, when said tumblers areset in accordance with the combination, by means of the arranging of thekey-seats in the stump and dial-sleeve to receive the key m,substantially as described.

EMORY STOOKWELL.

Witnesses:

H. L. WATTENBERG, G. M. PLYMPTON.

